Late last year I attended the last of Emily Karanikolopoulos' Master Classes. As usual, she set a challenge for all the participants. We each drew lots for selected vessels and materials to go with them. However, Emily had chosen vessels from her collection that she had found difficult to use. She had also paired the vessel with materials that ordinarily would not be used with the vessel.
I had drawn a lot which included two matching rectangular ceramic vessels with a large wave-shaped surface. On the convex part of the surface is a shallow circular depression, just deep enough to hold a kenzan. The material with these vessels was a large, heavy stem of Mahonia, and a small bunch of Crocosmia flowers. The shape of the Mahonia stem was such that it was most suited to being arranged at a slant. However, it was too heavy to be arranged at a slant in a kenzan. I improvised by splitting the stem onto a cross-bar that I wedged horizontally across the circular hole.
As you can see I set the second vessel on its side so that its mass balances the Mahonia branch as well as giving depth to the whole work. In the circular hole I set a small branch of Mahonia leaves and a floret of Crocosmia. I also drew the ends of the Mahonia leaf-stems together to make a loose ball to give it a more controlled shape and smaller volume than when left naturally.
This link will take you to Emily's posting about the Master Class including photos of other ikebana made on the day.
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In the garden...
...the Corymbia ficifolia, which seemed to suddenly produce an abundance of buds...
The vase I wanted to use is by the South Australian ceramic artist Bec Dawson and was given to me by the South Australian Branch of the Sogetsu School. Its shape is irregular and the glaze is predominately black except for a small area at the top where it is bright red. The next question in my mind was what other materials to use with the red flowers.
The answer came to me unexpectedly when I walked past this patch of variegated Agave americana, growing on the verge of a nearby street. What caught my attention was not the spectacular large leaves, but some of the smaller ones that had died and dried a charcoal grey. These leaves also had very interesting textures and shapes. Their very sharp thorns had not softened so I used thick gardening gloves when I gathered them.
Four of the leaves have been wired together and sit around the mouth of the vase and an attached bamboo skewer projects into the vase to secure them in place. The Corymbia flowers provide a forward leaning mass with some leaves providing a green contrast. The red against the black and the strong lines make this a quite dramatic ikebana.
Greetings from Christopher
22nd January 2022
What a lovely arrangement, you have made the container and materials look beautiful together. Thanks for sharing the interesting support mechanics for the dried leaves.
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